The known techniques for separating solid or liquid particles from a liquid-based mixture or emulsion include the following:
1. Decanting. Liquids having different specific gravities, i.e., oil and water, can be separated by standing in a settling tank. The lighter liquid floats to the top of the heavier liquid and can be skimmed off but it takes time for the liquid to settle. Moreover, skimming cannot avoid some water being mixed with the skimmed off oil. Typically skimmed oil contains about 15% water and the separated water about 50 parts oil per million parts water.
2. Centrifuging. Liquid or solid particles having higher specific gravities than the liquid base can be separated by spinning the emulsion in a rotating chamber whereby the heavier particles are separated by centrifugal force. Due to the weight of the spinning emulsion and the dynamic vibrations incurred, the equipment is both massive and expensive to operate.
3. Chemical Floccing. Floccing achieves separation of solid particles from a liquid by shifting the pH of the emulsion to impart an electric charge to the particles leaving both the particles and the liquid base negatively charged. Polymers carrying a positive charge are then added to the emulsion causing the negatively charged particles to draw together into a floc which can be removed from the liquid. Floccing is effective for only a narrow range of particles and once removed, the liquid must be purified.
4. Distillation. This method involves boiling the liquid and condensing the vapor. Distillation requires massive amounts of energy and is inefficient when the specific gravities of the liquid base and the solid or liquid particles are close together.
The present invention differs from the foregoing conventional methods of separating particles from liquid-based emulsions in that it not only provides rapid and inexpensive separation of the particles from the liquid but the resulting liquid has an extremely high level of purity.
The invention utilizes and combines two known scientific principles.
First, when a stream of liquid under pressure which contains solid or liquid immiscible particles is directed against the surface of a metal plate, the metal tends to give up electrons which then combine with the liquid molecules and with the particle molecules causing the similarly charged liquid and particles to repel and separate from each other.
Second, copper is a metal which readily gives up electrons and nickel in the presence of copper acts as a catalyst to enhance copper's propensity to surrender electrons when bombarded by a stream of liquid.
The invention includes a unique device we have named an Ion Collider.TM.. The Ion Collider combines the foregoing scientific principles into a remarkably effective method of separating immiscible particles from a liquid mixture or emulsion. In its simplest form the Ion Collider consists of two spaced apart concentric metal cylinders or pipes. Either both pipes are made of copper-nickel alloy or preferably both the inner surface of the outer cylinder and the outer surface of the inner cylinder are coated with a copper-nickel alloy.
The wall of the inner cylinder contains a multiplicity of spaced apart radially bored holes and the exit end of the inner cylinder is capped. The opposite or entry end of the inner cylinder may have a filter screen to prevent entry into the Ion Collider of gravel or other large particles. The liquid is pumped under pressure into the inner cylinder causing a multiplicity of streams or jets to issue from the inner cylinder wall and bombard the inner surface of the copper-nickel wall of the outer cylinder.
Electrons freed from the copper in the walls of the annular chamber between the two cylinders combine with both the base liquid molecules and the particle molecules, causing the particles to separate from the base liquid .